to mash in full volume or not to mash in full volume?

[Peatbogbrewer]

That is the question......

A mate, who knocks out some wondrous ales, has suggested i forget mashing in 26l of water and mash instead in the appropriate all grain amount (2.6l/kg ish), then sparge to the full volume and then boil yada yada yada....

Ive done a few full volume mashes and they generally turned out good, will this really compensate for varying quality of malt and give better efficiency?

p.s i used to sparge by squeezing the bag, now i will have to dig out the water boiler for sparge water, so much for BIAB streamlining!

[orlando]

That is the question......

A mate, who knocks out some wondrous ales, has suggested i forget mashing in 26l of water and mash instead in the appropriate all grain amount (2.6l/kg ish), then sparge to the full volume and then boil yada yada yada....

Ive done a few full volume mashes and they generally turned out good, will this really compensate for varying quality of malt and give better efficiency?

p.s i used to sparge by squeezing the bag, now i will have to dig out the water boiler for sparge water, so much for BIAB streamlining!

Originally sparging was a way of eking out the sugar content of the mash and reducing costs (Scottish invention I believe). Efficiency isn't really much of an issue to us HB'ers but there are other considerations. Reducing alkalinity for a Pale Ale is desirable so full volume mashing with all water treated to a low level is fine. Much more problematic with darker beers where you want to mash with higher alkalinity to not allow the grains to reduce alkalinity too far. With sparging you would treat mash water differently to sparge water, higher alkalinity and low alkalinity respectively. In the end it comes down to taste, try both methods and see what you prefer.

[AnthonyUK]

IMO it doesn't make one bit of difference apart from the points Orlando mentions and I would consider sparging for very high gravity batches or where you can't get your required volume due to pot size constraints.

[Jocky]

Reducing alkalinity for a Pale Ale is desirable so full volume mashing with all water treated to a low level is fine. Much more problematic with darker beers where you want to mash with higher alkalinity to not allow the grains to reduce alkalinity too far. With sparging you would treat mash water differently to sparge water, higher alkalinity and low alkalinity respectively.

Confused - isn't it the other way around? You need to reduce the alkalinity more for pale beers to get in the right pH zone for the mash, so you end up treating more water with a full volume mash. Whereas dark beers the dark malts give you a leg up in acidifying the mash, so you need less treatment?

I don't think full volume mashes are a problem at all. Sparging is a commercial process where it simply isn't practical to have a full volume mash, but the Germans have been doing thin mashes for centuries.

Mash thickness has been cited as having an effect on the final product, but the effect appears to be minimal, and other factors (e.g. mash temperature) have a much bigger effect.

[orlando]

Reducing alkalinity for a Pale Ale is desirable so full volume mashing with all water treated to a low level is fine. Much more problematic with darker beers where you want to mash with higher alkalinity to not allow the grains to reduce alkalinity too far. With sparging you would treat mash water differently to sparge water, higher alkalinity and low alkalinity respectively.

Confused - isn't it the other way around? You need to reduce the alkalinity more for pale beers to get in the right pH zone for the mash, so you end up treating more water with a full volume mash. Whereas dark beers the dark malts give you a leg up in acidifying the mash, so you need less treatment?

Have another read, that is what I am saying. "Reducing alkalinity for a Pale Ale is desirable so full volume mashing with all water treated to a low level is fine."

[Peatbogbrewer]

excellent cheers for your erudite replies, so whats the best methods for reducing alkalinity?